Sporting News caught up with Drew Brees during Super Bowl week in New Orleans to discuss how he and the Saints are preparing to wash away a 7-9 missed playoff season.

SN: As a football player and team, how do you move on from a disappointment of what happened in New Orleans last season?

Brees: You absolutely put it behind you and always learn from it. Just as if we had come one game away from the Super Bowl, or won the Super Bowl, you still have to go into next season with, 'What can we draw from last season that will help benefit us in the future?'

SN: Did you see it as a step back from building toward winning another Super Bowl?

Brees: Sometimes success is a bad teacher. Failure, at times, is the best teacher. ... I don't see it as a step back. I see it as a learning or growth experience. It definitely puts a chip on your shoulder and makes you feel like you have something to prove again.

SN: How did you feel you and your teammates dealt with all the unprecedented coaching and personnel challenges that came with the 2012 season?

Brees: We faced it head-on and we didn't shy away from anything. We're not going to make any excuses for our lack of success this past season, other than the fact we just didn't make the plays. ... The expectation level was high, as it always is, but that's not extra pressure—that's just our responsibility. We proved a lot to ourselves, our whole team, the way we stuck together, despite some difficult times. The coaching staff did a phenomenal job in tough circumstances. That's what was encouraging.

SN: Now that Sean Payton is fully back to work as your head coach, have you already seen its effect on the players and the organization?

Brees: Sean has the ability to put people on edge a little bit. He's the guy who calls the shots, and he forces everybody to kick it up a notch. It's like you're always being evaluated. That's a good thing—it kind of makes you leave no stone unturned. He gets the best out of people that way.

SN: How does the Saints' offense stay ahead of the game with you and Sean leading the way?

Brees: You always try to create depth and create competition. We're always looking for ways to improve. It's always fun to go back and watch the film from last season, watch what other people are doing and maybe how that incorporates with your personnel and scheme.

SN: Athletic, running quarterbacks have become all the rage in the NFL. How do they fit in with tried and true traditional passers like you?

Brees: There are offensive schemes that kind of come and go or evolve over time. There always are going to be pocket passers and there's certainly going to be this new style of run-pass type quarterbacks—the read option, the Pistol. Different styles of offense are going to enter this league, and whether it just for the short term or they stick has yet to be determined.

Brees also talked about several endorsement endeavors, such as his own family representing for Procter & Gamble.

SN: Did you ever see yourself doing this like this when you started playing, and how much fun is it?

Brees: We've also had a chance to do a lot of really cool things as a family. It also shows a different side to the football player. So many times when people see me, it's with a helmet and a uniform on. Now all of a sudden, the helmet's off, the uniform's off. It shows the more important sides to me—a husband, a father and a family man.